Brentford 23/24 Fantasy Flashback
- Draft Society
- Jul 14, 2024
- 6 min read
Before we look ahead to this season's prospects, let's first digest Brentford's takeaways from the previous season in our 23/24 Fantasy Flashback series. In this year's 24/25 Draft Kit, we are featuring both a Fantasy Flashback and a Fantasy Forecast for every single Premier League team. The flashbacks will be available on Draft Kit launch day, while the forecasts will drop closer to draft day. Check the 24/25 Draft Kit main page often, as it's updated constantly!
In addition to reviewing top Draft PL fantasy contributors, Brentford's Fantasy Flashback will highlight a breakout player and a fantasy flop, analyze the impact of any injuries suffered by Brentford players, and review the team's performance as a whole. Then, be sure to check out the Brentford 24/25 Fantasy Forecast to find out whether last season was a fluke or if we predict more of the same.
Check out our 24/25 Draft Kit for all the pre-season information you could ever need: Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Mock Drafts, Strategy, Draft 101. We've got it all!
Brentford 23/24 Fantasy Flashback
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23/24 Brentford Player Performance
Let's review how Brentford players fared in 23/24, with an emphasis on their Draft Premier League fantasy assets. We'll also discuss any pertinent info regarding rotation, managerial tactics, and injuries below. What can we learn from their performance in the last campaign?
Note: The following table is interactive. Desktop users can apply the Filter, Group, and Sort buttons to arrange the data to their preferences. Mobile users can tap on a player card to view all data points. The table can be reset to its default state by refreshing the page.
At the end of the 22/23 season disaster struck for Brentford, when the ruling came down that Toney was going to be banned for the rest of the calendar year, only to return in January 2024. The talismanic striker had been their main man since their promotion and propelled them consideration as a well-run mid-table club in the Premier League merely a few seasons after their promotion. Those with a keener eye had, however, been quietly confident in the Bees' ability handle the Toney-less part of the season, mostly due to Wissa and Mbeumo being on fire in Ivan's previous absences. Then, a potentially bigger seismic change occurred during the summer as previous Goalkeeper of the Year David Raya signed for Arsenal.
With the onus firmly on Mbeumo, Wissa and young Schade and Lewis-Potter to deliver in the absence of their leader, the season started off rocky, with their second win coming as late as the end of October. The early season form turned out to be something they could not shake all season; a few good results strung together were followed by surprising losses and slumps. When looking at the season as a whole, Yoane Wissa and Mathias Jensen were the only two players who delivered consistently on the fantasy and real-life pitch.
Injuries to Mee, Schade, Mbeumo, Pinnock, Lewis-Potter, Damsgaard and (surprisingly) most importantly Hickey and Henry in the wing-back positions ultimately doomed the Bees' season. And while they ended up safely beating the drop, they were flirting with relegation as late as the spring to mark their worst season in the EPL to date. Hickey and Henry deserve special mentions here as before their season ending injuries, they were looking like usable fantasy assets in a season characterized by under-par defensive numbers. Fantasy darling Ethan Pinnock also deserves a special mention as the former ghost point magnet managed only 3 double-digit games from the 25th of November to the end of the season, two of which featured clean sheets and another in which he scored a goal.
23/24 Breakout Player
Yoane Wissa
Position: Forward
23/24 Points: 294 (16th best FWD)
23/24 Points Per Start: 8.8 (29 starts)
It was always going to be make or break for Wissa this season, having been a bit-part player for much of the previous few years. Once news came through that Brentford's pursuit of the PSV winger/striker Bakayoko fell through, Wissa was officially elevated to being the de facto starter in either the CF or the LW role. 2 goals and an assist in the first 2 games had the fans asking "Toney who?" and while he did not end up continuing the 1 goal/game rate, he ended up being the Bees' top goalscorer with 12 goals and he added 3 assists just for good measure. This is especially impressive as he had to contend with very different problems in different parts of the season: there were months when he was Brentford's only fit attacker (I refuse to count Maupay). Whereas, by the end of the season, everyone including Ivan Toney was back and it suddenly became quite crowded up top at the GTech.
23/24 Fantasy Flop
Ben Mee
Position: Defender
23/24 Points: 86.75 (51st best DEF)
23/24 Points Per Start: 5.8 (15 starts)
The former Burnley CB took to London like a duck to water in the 22/23 season, notching up a mind boggling 9.4 PPS from 37 starts to end up as the 4th best scoring defender in the entire league. Despite my warnings, his ADP in the three "Big leagues" was 76, which on face value should have been a decent price for a man scoring out-of-his mind the previous season. After missing the beginning of the season due to injury, he ended up out-of-commission due to a second serious injury at the end of February. A combination of missing Raya, having to contend with Collins for aerial dominance, and Brentford's poor defensive form combined to kill his value even in the limited number of starts he got. A year older, question marks will be looming around Mee's position, let alone his draft stock for the upcoming season.
Injury Impact
As mentioned before, injuries really took their toll on Brentford's season in 23/24. Other than Wissa, who only missed four games, none of the "fantasy relevant" players enjoyed an injury-free season. Toney's suspension was coupled with a late-season niggle. Mbeumo was out for most of the winter. Young forwards, who were supposed to shoulder the load (Schade and KLP), were also struggling. Three of the first-choice back five had season ending injuries, with Pinnock missing 10 games to pile on. Summarizing all this, it seems like the fact that Brentford stayed up was mostly due to the 3 promoted teams being god-awful and Everton and Forest PSR-ing themselves into trouble. And it would be difficult for the Bees to have more of an injury crisis than they did last year, which I suppose is a good thing.
Brentford Overall Team Performance
Brentford ended their worst season in the Premier League 16th with only 10 wins and a goal difference of -9. Of those 10 wins, four came against sides eventually relegated with another four coming to sides in the bottom half of the table. The two highlights of their campaign were the wins against (then bottom-half) Chelsea and West Ham, which hardly gets your heart racing.
On the positive side, Brentford generated the 8th highest xG and npxG in the league, and unsurprisingly they were second in the league for set-piece key passes. Despite their defensive woes, they remained true to their style and ended up leading the league in interceptions and finishing in the top three for aerials. After Thomas Frank was courted by many big clubs, he decided to stay at the club. While prospects are not so rosy for Toney's future with the Bees, Frank should be able to steady the ship if they manage to avoid the rotten luck they faced with injuries in 23/24.
More 23/24 Fantasy Flashbacks: Arsenal | Aston Villa | Bournemouth | Brentford | Brighton | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Fulham | Ipswich Town | Leicester City | Liverpool | Man City | Man United | Newcastle | Nottingham Forest | Southampton | Tottenham | West Ham | Wolves
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